Brockton water commissioners want to keep water rates unchanged

The Brockton Water Commission, which is in the middle of a legal battle between the mayor and the City Council, has voted not to increase the city's water rates. The City Council, however, has the final say.

BROCKTON – Water commissioners want to keep water rates exactly where they are during the fiscal year that will begin July 1.

The Water Commission voted 2-0, with one member abstaining, on Wednesday to recommend that the rates remain unchanged. The City Council has final say on setting water rates.

The vote was taken at a time the commissioners find themselves in the middle as Mayor Bill Carpenter seeks an injunction in Brockton Superior Court to block City Council President Robert Sullivan from appointing additional members to the commission.

In court documents, Carpenter argues a city ordinance allowing the City Council president to appoint two members to the commission violates a state law that gives the power to the mayor under Brockton’s form of government.

The injunction also seeks to invalidate Sullivan’s most recent pick, Kathryn Archard, who was appointed to the commission on Feb. 6 for a three-year term.

The decision not to recommend a rate hike is a reversal of the commission’s recommendations for the past two years.

In 2012, the commission voted for a 10 percent increase, and in 2013, the commission voted for a 6.5 percent hike.

The rates have not gone up since 2011, however, because neither the 2012 nor the 2013 recommendations were taken up by the City Council.